Which is why TED fans (or anyone looking to make themselves smarter and more aware in easily digestible 20-minute chunks) should pay attention to Anderson's picks for the top ten best TED talks of 2018. Touching on topics ranging from astronomy to social justice to artificial intelligence, everyone is guaranteed to change how you think about the world.

1. How we need to remake the internet - Jaron Lanier

"In this visionary talk, Lanier reflects on a 'globally tragic, astoundingly ridiculous mistake' companies like Google and Facebook made at the foundation of digital culture -- and how we can undo it," explains TED.

2. A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow - Kate Raworth

What would an ideal and sustainable economy look like? "Like a doughnut," answers Oxford economist Raworth in this intriguing talk.

3. Is the world better better or worse? A look at the numbers - Steven Pinker

Bill Gates' favorite author used data to make the case that, despite what you might see on the evening news, the world really is getting better. And if we approach problems correctly we can make it even better still.

4. What are the most important moral problems of our time? - Will MacAskill

Humanity has no shortage of problems. In this talk the Oxford philosopher and "effective altruism" advocate ponders an important questions: which should we tackle first?

5. What if we ended the injustice of bail? - Robin Steinberg

"On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States are locked up in jail simply because they do not have enough money to pay bail," reports TED. Is that just?

6. Why I have coffee with people who send me hate mail - Ozlem Cekic

When Ozlem Cekic was elected in 2007 as the first female Muslim woman to serve in the Danish parliament, her email inbox was flooded with hate mail. At first she ignored it, but then she struck on a radical idea: why not reach out to the senders and grab a coffee?

"Tuning out opposite viewpoints doesn't make them go away," Wood points out in the this talked well suited to our polarized age. "To achieve progress in the face of adversity, we need a genuine commitment to gaining a deeper understanding of our humanity."

8. Where are all the aliens? - Stephen Webb

The appeal of this one is pretty well summed up by its title. If you've ever wondered why, with billions of stars in the sky, we don't have regular alien visitors, astronomer Stephen Wood offers a bracing answer: we're actually alone in the universe.

9. The story of 'Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system - Karen J. Meech

Another one for astronomy fans and star gazers. The tale of how Meech and her team raced to understand 'Oumuamua, the first hunk of rock briefly to pass through our solar system from somewhere beyond. Was it a hunk of an alien craft, the leftovers of supernova, or something else entirely?

10. How AI can save our humanity - Kai-Fu Lee

"In a visionary talk, computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee details how the U.S. and China are driving a deep learning revolution -- and shares a blueprint for how humans can thrive in the age of AI by harnessing compassion and creativity," explains TED.

About Us

Inc. Southeast Asia is the sole Southeast Asian licensee of Inc., the world's leading media brand for entrepreneurs and start-ups. We are committed to two ideas. First, as entrepreneurs and start-ups within Southeast ...
Read More